As the end of the school year approaches for final-year cohorts, it means that the reality of saying goodbye to their school, friends and teachers is imminent.
Numerous rituals now mark this occasion: the leavers’ hoodie, the leavers’ assembly, shirt signings and proms are common. Now another American import - the yearbook - is often seen, too.
As international director at Wellington College International, I always enjoy looking over these yearbooks as they are produced to see how they capture the spirit of the students, their hopes for the future and their view of their school.
However, while yearbooks are certainly fun, there are many important points to consider in how these are produced to avoid issues for students, staff or parents. Here are some key tips to follow.
Tips to create yearbooks for school leavers
1. Numbers
Firstly, it is important to ensure that everyone who wants to be in the book really is there. It is easy to duplicate one person and then miss someone else out, and only realise after 300 copies arrive.
Don’t just check the total number you expect to see in book but check each person against the exam entry list. Hopefully that list is correct and there is a single source of truth to cross reference against.
Also it’s worth nothing that not everyone may want to be in the book so a discreet opt out may be helpful.
2. Names
Next you need to ensure that each photo and the name are matched correctly. Not always easy.
Breaking this down into form groups and relying on a form group representative from the students, and an attentive form tutor, to check if everything matches should avoid any blushes when the book is circulated.
It is also important that the names submitted are correct - spellings, hyphens, capitals, initials, the nickname everyone uses for someone but that isn’t actually their name and so on - all this needs to be checked. After all, you don’t want someone’s final memento of their time in school to be marked with an error.
3. Language
Underneath each picture students usually leave a funny, heartfelt or sarcastic comment.
Many students, not just in international schools, will use their first language for this, which can be really positive and a statement of identity.
It does mean, though, that you need to find someone to translate the comments to make sure they are appropriate. Usually you can ask a multilingual member of staff to proof read it or turn to Google to check translations.
Sometimes you might need more sleuthing and have to turn to online “urban dictionaries” to understand what an unknown word means.
We once had a student wish everyone Qapla’. It caused some confusion at first because no one knew what it meant. Turned out it was Klingon for “success”. An excellent comment!
4. Comments
As well as checking the language, it is also worth checking the comments to make sure that they are suitable for all readers - parents will want to look at the yearbook, after all.
For example, nice advice-style comments, like “Oh! The places you’ll go”, inspired by Dr Seuss, or heartfelt quotations, perhaps the Gandhi line “Be the change you want to see in the world”, are always nice to see.
Some comments - such as “The girls never liked me that much, but their boyfriends did” - probably require a suggestion that the student give it another thought.
You’d hope staff members would be on top of this but it’s still worth looking over the yearbook with a critical eye.
As well as this, it is also worth looking at any “most likely to…” award pages. Some entries, such as “most likely to be prime minister” or “most likely to cure a disease”, are almost certainly fine. “Most likely to appear on Love Island” or “most likely to end up in prison”…not so much.
5. Photos
For image-conscious students, the photos are everything. They may be keen to use their own picture with a certain hairstyle or outfit choice.
But to avoid any issues this may cause, I’d suggest not allowing individual submissions from students and instead use their official school photo. They’ll probably be grateful that you insisted on this in 20 or 30 years’ time.
You can also offer access to any photos taken by the school that can be used to illustrate their book, too.
Overall, yearbooks are a joyous celebration of school life and their rising popularity is no surprise. If your students want to make one, it is certainly a great way to create a wonderful memento for them - and the whole school community - to enjoy.
Hopefully following these simple rules will ensure that you meet with qapla’ when you do!
Chris Woolf is international director at Wellington College International
